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GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

Nighthand posted:

I have Charter Internet
I have a Motorola Surfboard SB5101 modem
I have a Linksys WRT400N router. It has standard firmware because DD-WRT was bugging the gently caress out for me.

I have a desktop computer on a wired connection and a laptop on a wireless connection, both within 10 feet of the router. These work perfectly most of the time.

I share my connection with someone in a studio behind my house. They use a laptop wirelessly, as well as a wireless HP printer. They are probably... no more than 40 or 50 feet away, but through a couple of walls and a couple of appliances (fridge, oven) that could get in the way of the signal. This person has sporadic connection issues, to the extent that sending an e-mail with a photo attachment will time out 50% of the time. They also claim that their wireless connection works just fine in other locations, leading me to suspect signal issues rather than hardware issues.



I'm looking for a way to improve the connection for the person in the studio.

1) The person in the back has offered to throw money at the problem by way of purchasing a new modem. Would that be likely to help, and if so, what modem should I look for? I see a recommendation for a SB6141, but I'm open to suggestions. We have already replaced the router after past issues. Even if the modem wouldn't solve the issue, would it be worth updating from the old hardware?

2) The person in the back has also offered the idea of running a cable and setting up their own router. I believe I'm correct in saying that it'd be the same effect to just run a cable from my router to their computer (they could still use their printer wirelessly) and not require another router.

3) The way I see it, the simplest solution -- if it works -- would be to run a network cable from my router to their desk to plug in the computer when it's there, leaving their wireless connection open to the printer.

4) Another possible solution would be to run some kind of wireless repeater, but that seems a bit overkill for the relatively short distance.

I prefer the reliability of a wired connection above all else, so if the wire doesn't pose a significant issue (in aesthetics, pets, clumsiness, or whatever), running a cable to a switch in the other room and then letting him connect his computer/printer/whatever to that would be the best choice.

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GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.
I have an AC66 running DD-WRT, and it's worked great for everything I've asked of it. I don't have any AC devices though, since my original plan of getting a 2013 rMBP turned into buying a used 2012 rMBP instead. But sooner or later I will, so I didn't see any reason not to get it (I bought a refurb unit off NewEgg for around $110 a couple months ago).

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.
Make sure to mention though that to set up an AirPort, an OS X or iOS device is required. I don't know how many people would be buying one w/o owning any other Apple devices, but just in case there are some, it's something to note.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

Dogen posted:

No it isn't. There is an airport utility for windows.

Which hasn't been updated since 2012 and does not work with the new models.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

I have a support question that isn't large enough to warrant its own thread. I recently purchased a new USB wireless adapter to replace one that broke. It works fine but my PC recognizes the connection as "Wireless Network Connection 2." I tried renaming it to "1" but it forbids me because apparently the other network connection, the one used by the old USB adapter, still exists. How the hell do I delete it? Its not anywhere in the Network and Sharing Center in my Control Panel. I tried reinstalling the driver for my old adapter to see if I could disable it and that simply created a Wireless Network Connection 3! This is using Windows 7 BTW.

Windows remembers the previous network adapters. To remove them, from an elevated command prompt, run the commands "set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1" and then "devmgmt.msc" to bring up Device Manager, then View -> Show Hidden Devices and delete the old ones.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

Shimrra Jamaane posted:

What will the old ones show up as? Will they be labeled as the hidden Wireless Networks or will it be something else? Are they the ISATAP 6 adapters?

What it shows up as will depend on the adapter, I believe - I've only done this for wired Ethernet NICs, so I'm not sure about wireless. But they should be greyed out (after you select to Show Hidden Devices) to indicate that they're not currently connected, so you could just delete all the greyed out ones and that should take care of it.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

Cold on a Cob posted:

Does the Apple Store usually keep replacement power cords in stock? I lost my Time Capsule ac cord in a move and ebay prices are pretty ridiculous, tempted to just buy a new apple tv and use my old apple tv cord instead of that. Or, if someone knows how I can buy a generic version easily that would be awesome.

e: Sorry, should specify I am Canadian so I'm trying to avoid $10 + $10 shipping + $5 duty to buy from the USA...

Which version of the Time Capsule? The current model looks like it just uses a standard 2-prong plug:


GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

Cold on a Cob posted:

I have a previous model. The plug looks the same as that one.

Then you should be able to buy it from just about any electronics supply store or online.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.
My AC66 with DD-WRT has been running great. Though I don't actually have any AC devices (yet - Nexus 5 should be here soon), it's been working great with everything else.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

Naffer posted:

Would you recommend it to others? Over the years the number of features of dd-wrt that I take advantage of has increased to the point where I don't know if I could go back to stock firmware and right now support for AC devices doesn't seem that great.

If you're comfortable with DD-WRT, and can find it at a decent price (I got mine at ~$120), yeah. I have no complaints about it - have never had to reboot it for any reason other than making config changes.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.
It's not recommended since it can induce interference, but depending on the length of the cables and how well constructed they are (and whether the Cat6 cables are shielded), it may not actually cause any issues.

But if you're at the point where you can still change the way it's being run easily, you might as well do so.

GokieKS fucked around with this message at 22:16 on Mar 8, 2014

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.
My experience with consumer grade switches is that they're likely to just up and die randomly for no apparent reason, but they're cheap enough that you can just buy an extra one to keep around to swap out if you can't afford for it to be down for more than 5 minutes.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

Lork posted:

I bit the bullet and installed Tomato, and it's been great so far except for one thing.

It took a bit of research (that mammoth guide for advanced QoS in the OP is nice and all, but it seems to be so widespread that it has supplanted all other documentation... I had to go about 10 pages deep into a google search just to find a simple explanation of what all the menu options actually mean), but I managed to setup a good QoS system to suit my needs.

I made a rule to classify anything coming from my PS3's MAC address as high priority, and it worked great for about a week. Then last night I was playing a PS3 game and all of a sudden it started performing terribly. I took a look at the QoS classification, and the rule I had made for it was nowhere to be seen. I remade the rule, and sure enough, the lag problems went away.

So my question is: what happened here? Was it a bug? Is there some kind of "Feature" that automatically removes MAC Address related classification rules after a certain amount of time? Am I going to have to worry about it happening again?

I used Tomato on my old ASUS WL-520GU for something like 5 years and have never had a setting disappear. What you describe sounds almost like the rule was applied but not saved to NVRAM, and maybe was lost during a reboot. Try rebooting the router again and see if the rule is there when it comes back up.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

Turtlicious posted:

Hey I'm thinking of setting up like a network server for the house with an old Desktop we have. It'd mostly be for hosting game servers, and being able to have a network drive. What's the preferred operating system / remote access program of choice? I heard NAS8 is a good OS for that, but you can't run windows programs off of it, so hosting a lot of servers may become difficult. What are your guys opinions?

What servers are you wanting to run, and what platforms do they support? And what platforms are you familiar with in terms of management and administration? A user-friendly version of Linux (i.e. Ubuntu) is usually the default choice, and is likely the most compatible. But if you have something that requires Windows, or you have no *nix experience and feel uncomfortable with it, then there are other options.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

spog posted:

Thanks to the NAS megathread, I now have a NAS - on which I will store my photos, docs, music library.
This will allow 2 users to share these files, as well as letting me use my smart TV and PS3 as media centres via DLNA. Also backups from the desktop PC and laptop.

I think this is too much for my cheapo Technicolor TG582n to handle - I believe that it struggles with 4+ simultaneous connections and I have not gotten DLNA to work reliably via wifi. Also, streaming on the netbook will kill online gaming on the PS3 (high ping).

Best options for upgrade? Add an Asus RT-N66U, disable Technicolor and use it as a wired router?

Also, would it be feasible to connect a wifi dongle to the NAS so I can move it away from the router?

If you want to be able to game and stream at the same time, a router that has good QoS is pretty much a must, and in most cases, that means using custom firmware - a lot of stock firmware on consumer routers will advertise having QoS features, but I've never heard of any of them being as good as what you get on Tomato and it's variants (which I find to be better than DD-WRT / OpenWRT). So I would look at ones that are well supported by one of the branches that are in active development (like Shibby), which I believe the ASUS RT-N66U / AC66U does.

Also, the Technicolor TG582n appears to be a combination modem + router. So you will need to keep it around as a modem (assuming it can be configured as just a modem) unless you're going to get a new modem as well.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

Ashex posted:

I was under the impression that 5Ghz had better wall penetration and was a more reliable signal than 2.5Ghz however I keep having the problem of the 5Ghz signal being super lovely in my bedroom but the 2.5Ghz signal is strong and reliable.

Am I doing something wrong? I've got a Linksys E3000 running TomatoUSB Shibby.

Your impression was mistaken - 5GHz has less wall penetration than 2.4GHz, not more.

Anyway, you can try boosting the power on the antenna and see if that helps. Other than that, not a whole lot else you can do unless you use a repeater or other extra hardware.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

CrazyLittle posted:

Boosting transmitter amplifier power only means that your wifi device can receive the signal from the AP better, but it's a two way street- your wifi device has to be able to transmit back to the AP. You're better off using shaped antennas than stronger amplifiers. If you want strong wifi signal in a room with only weak reception the best thing you can do is put another access point in the weak spot.

Right... without knowing what the device are it's hard to say if it will help, but that's really the only thing he can try that doesn't require extra hardware, so might as well give it a shot and see.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.
What I do is have 2.4GHz and 5GHz on separate non-broadcasted SSIDs, and then a 2.4GHz guest network SSID that is broadcast for if someone visiting needs to use it.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.
Yes, antenna orientation matters. Most antennae are omni-directional, but they are definitely stronger in certain axis. The best way to arrange them for a triple-antenna setup is to have them all perpendicular to each other to best work with the varying internal antenna orientations of your connected devices.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.
Buy an Intel NIC.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.
As someone who's run into issues with enterprise APs not working properly due to too-low operating temperatures (it was installed in a building that was under construction and exposed to Michigan winter), I most definitely would not expect consumer hardware to work at anything close to 0 F / -18 C, to say nothing of -112 F / -80 C.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.
I really have to ask though, where exactly are you trying to put the device that's going to be -80 C / -112 F? That's approaching coldest temperatures ever recorded in nature, which makes me think the cold would be artificially created for specific industrial applications, in which case consumer-grade hardware would normally not even come close to being considered.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

Inspector_666 posted:

For the record, Intel is a go-to for wired NICs, and it seems really loving weird that your mobo would have two integrated NICs from different chipmakers.

Not really, this happens all the time. MB companies have one Intel NIC, and then another one from Realtek or Atheros or whoever on consumer boards.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

UndyingShadow posted:

Honestly, I kinda like the way it looks, sorta got a cylon thing going on. What I don't like is how loving useless it is. It's got 2 4x4 5ghz arrays (of which there zero clients with 4 radios, let alone enough to require two separate arrays) plus a 4x4 2.4ghz array (is that even a thing?)

Bottom line: that's a 400 dollar router that won't be any faster than midrange available today.

It's only useless if you only have 1 wireless client. While the maximum throughput is not any higher for any individual client, two separate arrays means 2 different channels and twice the (theoretical) throughput that can be shared in a multi-client environment.

CrazyLittle posted:

Heck, are there any clients/laptops with more than two radios? IIRC macbooks are only 2x2 mimo

The MacBook Pro has had 3x3:3 radios since dating back to before the rMBP was introduced, and both the 15" and 13" current rMBPs have it. The MacBook and MacBook Air models make do with 2x2:2, along with iPads.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

GobiasIndustries posted:

How can I find out which of my devices support the 5ghz band (N or AC)? I'm trying to figure out if it'd be worth it to buy a new router that supports 5ghz to clear up congestion from my apartment complex and move my current router to my home lab and let "legacy" devices connect to it wirelessly.

Dig through the specification page for each of them.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

Shaocaholica posted:

Are the antenna arrays on these crazy new AC routers actually good for anything?

Yes. You can have the separate antennae arrays to be used for separate bands / channels, giving you better performance in multi-client environments. Also, beamforming.

GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.
Yeah, pulled server parts are great for getting stuff cheap.

Also make sure you're getting the right kind of card - the linked Newegg one is PCI, not PCIe.

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GokieKS
Dec 15, 2012

Mostly Harmless.

e.pilot posted:

I just hope 5ghz stays a bit of a niche thing so it doesn't run in to the same problems as 2.4.

I don't know that I'd call it niche, and it's certainly going to be the standard going forward. But even when everybody uses the 5GHz band, it'll still be a vastly superior option due to it's biggest weakness - the smaller range will still reduce interference rather dramatically.

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